Systems and methods for indicating the existence of accessible information pertaining to articles of commerce

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for indicating an existence of a link to information pertaining to an article of commerce. The present disclosure provides for downloading a look-up table from a server database to a mobile device via a communication network. The look-up table is configured to store a plurality of UPC numbers associated with a plurality of articles of commerce and a plurality of information link indicators. Each information link indicator is associated with a respective UPC number and article of commerce and indicates the existence of a link via the communication network to information pertaining to the respective article of commerce. The mobile device allows a consumer to immediately determine if product information is available for a particular article of commerce, via a visual or audible indication on the mobile device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under the laws and rules of theUnited States, including 35 U.S.C. §120, as a continuation U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/267,594, filed on Sep. 16, 2016, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/731,817 filed onJun. 5, 2015, which in turn claims priority to U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/294,800 filed on Jun. 3, 2014, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,053,498,which in turn claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/922,888 filed on Jun. 20, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,746,560 which inturn claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/405,246filed on Feb. 25, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,469,270. All of which areherein incorporated by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND 1. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to mobile devices, and moreparticularly, to systems and methods for enabling a mobile device toindicate the existence of accessible information about an identifiedarticle of commerce.

2. Description of the Related Art

Portable digital devices are now common. Examples include the variousWindows™ Pocket PC devices which have an operating system created byMicrosoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. Other devices include variousmobile phone devices including many that have built-in camera imagingdevices. Still other portable digital devices include portable mediaplayers from Creative Media of Singapore, Samsung of South Korea,Archos, Inc. of Irvine, Calif. and Apple Computers, Inc. of Cupertino,Calif. Additionally, Sony of New York and Japan manufacture a portablegame playing device called the Sony PSP™ (PlayStation Portable).

Increasingly, many of these portable media devices include a means oftransmitting and receiving digital content. Various communicationstechnologies are frequently built into these devices. Examples ofportable communicating devices include mobile phones which employ GSM,CDMA, W-CDMA, and FOMA technology, among other standards, to send andreceive data in addition to handling voice communications. Many of theportable media devices also include transmission capabilities includingWi-Fi (IEEE 802.11a, b, g and x among others), Bluetooth™ infrared,etc., to allow the user to transmit and receive digital content. TheSony PSP™ device, for example, includes Wi-Fi (i.e., IEEE 802.11b) totransmit and receive digital data.

The above-described mobile devices may employ an incorporated imagingdevice to scan Universal Product Codes (UPCs) or other symbologiesdisposed on articles of commerce to receive more information on sucharticles. The mobile devices use a communication means to access theInternet to receive such information. However, these devices take timeto connect to the Internet (if Internet service is even available) andthen the user still may or may not have information on the article ofcommerce. If the user takes two or three minutes to scan and connect andthen information is not available, it is frustrating to the user. Inthis age of ‘instant gratification and information’, a need exists for asystem and method to allow a consumer to determine whether or notinformation pertaining to an identified article of commerce may beobtained. Also, a need exists to allow a consumer to determine whetherthis information is accessible while the consumer is on the go. Afurther need exists for a mobile device to allow a consumer offlineaccess to immediately determine if product information is available fora particular article of commerce, via a visual or audible indication onthe mobile device.

SUMMARY

A system and method are provided for indicating an existence of a linkto information about an article of commerce. According to oneembodiment, a system comprises, among other things, a mobile devicehaving a communication interface configured to enable the mobile deviceto communicate with a communication network. The mobile device furthercomprises a signal processing device and a visual input device. Thesystem also includes a local database associated with the mobile device,wherein the local database is configured to store data for use by themobile device. Also included is a server in communication with thecommunication network, the server comprising a server databaseconfigured to store a look-up table that stores a plurality of UniversalProduct Codes (UPCs) associated with a plurality of articles ofcommerce. The look-up table also stores a plurality of information linkindicators. Each information link indicator is associated with arespective UPC and article of commerce and indicates the existence of alink to information about the respective article of commerce via thecommunication network. The mobile device is configured to download thelook-up table from the server database and store the look-up table inthe local database. The visual input device is configured to scan a UPCsymbol from an article of commerce and forward scanned data to thesignal processing device. In response to receiving the scanned data, thesignal processing device is configured to look up the UPC in the look-uptable stored in the local database to determine from the respectiveinformation link indicator whether or not a link to information about anarticle of commerce associated with the scanned UPC symbol is accessiblevia the communication network.

A method is also provided for indicating an existence of a link toinformation about an article of commerce, according to anotherembodiment. The method comprises downloading a look-up table from aserver database via a communication network. The look-up table isconfigured to store a plurality of UPCs associated with a plurality ofarticles of commerce. The look-up table also stores a plurality ofinformation link indicators, where each information link indicator isassociated with a respective UPC and article of commerce, and eachinformation link indicator indicates the existence of a link toinformation about the respective article of commerce via thecommunication network. The method also includes storing the downloadedlook-up table in a local database associated with a mobile device. Themethod then includes scanning a UPC symbol from an article of commerceand looking up the UPC in the look-up table stored in the local databaseto determine from the respective information link indicator whether ornot a link to information about an article of commerce associated withthe scanned UPC symbol is accessible via the communication network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1A is front view of a mobile device according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a rear view of the mobile device of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of various modules included in the mobiledevice illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a system for enabling remote communication betweendevices via a communication network; and

FIGS. 4A and 4B are flow diagrams illustrating methods for indicatingthe existence of a link to information pertaining to an article ofcommerce, according to several embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedhereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, well-known functions or constructions may not bedescribed in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure inunnecessary detail.

Many types of portable devices are able to access web pages from theInternet. Some may gain access through a Wi-Fi network, while others mayuse cellular service to access the mobile web. However, since theseportable devices typically use some type of wireless communication,interruptions of service may arise due to regions where cellular serviceis not available or is being blocked and/or where Wi-Fi hotspots are outof range. Also, certain places may be categorized as non-cellularlocations, such as on airplanes, ships, trains, etc., due to being outof range or due to blockage for the purpose of avoiding disruption withmore critical communication systems.

In addition to advancements in wireless communication, advancements inthe technology of memory devices should also be considered. With respectto memory devices, improvements have been made to reduce the form factorsuch that large amounts of data can be stored in a relatively smallspace. Some small memory components are able to store up to 128gigabytes. It is believed that in the near future memory components ofthe same size may be capable of storing several terabytes of data. Assuggested in the present disclosure, mobile devices may have a storagecapacity of hundreds of gigabytes or even more in the near future. Withthis capacity, a mobile device having Internet access may downloadinformation from an Internet-connected server and store a large amountof data locally. Then, regardless of whether or not the mobile devicehas Internet access, the user may still obtain information that had beenpreviously stored during the download.

In particular, information that mobile devices may be able to downloadfrom a server may be related to any type of products, such as clothing,DVDs, groceries, etc. The information may be organized in a look-uptable, for example, and contain information that identifies the articlesof commerce based on a Universal Product Code (UPC) number andassociated bar code symbol. Using a scanner or image capture device onthe mobile device, the user can scan a UPC bar code and the mobiledevice, with decoding software, may be able to decode the bar code. Fromthe stored information, an article of commerce may be identified usingthe UPC.

Not only this, but the information downloaded from the server may alsoinclude an information link indicator. According to the embodimentsdisclosed herein, an information link indicator may be an indication(for the user's reference) as to whether (or not) information about theidentified article of commerce can be accessed over the Internet (orother network). The information link indicator may be a status or checksignal indicating that information is available. Some information may beavailable by conducting a search on the network, while other informationmay be included in the look-up table or other form of data on the memorydevice of the mobile device. The information link indicator may alsoinclude an indication as to whether a particular link to one or more webpages exists, where the particular link might be stored along with theinformation link indicator in the look-up table.

Since a typical look-up table does not require a large amount of memory,the look-up table(s) of the present disclosure may include UPC data,product name data, and an associated information link indicator forpractically every product associated with a known UPC in the entireworld. In some embodiments, one or more look-up tables may be createdfor certain categories of products. In addition to the UPC data, a smallamount of information about the articles of commerce may also be storedin the look-up tables.

In operation of the system and method of the present disclosure, theportable device may use any suitable communication protocols includingbut not limited to Wi-Fi (a, b, c d, n, x), cellular communications suchas GSM, CDMA, FOMA, etc., infrared communications, cabledcommunications, Bluetooth communications, satellite communications,etc., to transmit a request to a remote server on the global computernetwork (GCN), e.g., the Internet. The request, according to someimplementations, may be an initial request to download a look-up tablefrom the server, where the look-up table includes information relatingUPC numbers with the associated articles of commerce and the informationlink indicator, as described above. In some embodiments, the request maybe a request for a certain category of articles of commerce, e.g.,categories of articles that have been previously identified as being ofinterest to the user. After an initial download, the request may alsorepresent a request to receive any updates made to the look-up tablesince the latest download. In some embodiments, the user may alsotransmit information identifying the user submitting the request.

The server may then use any suitable computer processing power andsoftware to retrieve the requested look-up table(s). The server may thenuse standard communications protocols to transmit information back tothe portable digital device. With the look-up table(s) stored in localmemory on the user's mobile device, the user may access the informationon the table at any time without the need to continually accessinformation from the server. The information may be used to inform theuser as to whether any article of commerce, which is identified by themobile device thereafter, is associated with accessible information thatdescribes certain details about the respective article. The descriptionof the articles of commerce may include characteristics of the articles,prices of the articles, stores where the articles are available forpurchase, or other features of the articles.

After the look-up table has been downloaded onto the user's portabledigital device, the user may then locate an article of commerce, such asa book, electronic device, article of clothing, etc. The user utilizesthe portable digital device, e.g., a mobile phone or other mobiledevice, to identify the article of commerce. Several possible solutionsare provided to allow the article to be identified by a user. Forexample, the article of commerce may be identified by using a scanningdevice on the mobile device that scans a barcode on the article or byusing an image capture device containing a CCD device (e.g., a camera)where the user takes a picture of the barcode on the article ofcommerce. The article may also be identified using a device containing auser interface allowing user keyboard input where the user inputs thename of the item into the portable device, or a device where the usermay speak the name of the article of commerce into the portable devicewhere the device contains voice recognition software, etc.

Referring to FIG. 1A, a mobile device 100, such as a portable mediaplayback device or other portable digital device for receiving andplaying various types of digital media content, e.g., audio, video,images, games, text, multimedia content, etc., in accordance with anembodiment of the present disclosure, is illustrated. The mobile device100 includes various electrical components, which will be described indetail below, disposed in a generally rectangular housing 102. A displaymodule 104 is provided for displaying video and image media content,such as movies, animations, etc., and a speaker 116 is providedconfigured to produce audio, e.g., music or a soundtrack associated witha video. An audio port 118 may be configured to receive a plug orconnector from a headphone, stereo system, etc., to stream the audio tothe connected device. It is to be appreciated that when an externaldevice is connected to the audio port 118 the speaker 116 will bedisabled. Input module 106 includes a plurality of buttons 108 forinputting data and navigating through a plurality of menus. A touchscreen overlaid upon the display module 104 may also be coupled to theinput module for facilitating user input. The mobile device 100 furtherincludes a storage module 110 for storing a plurality of content and atransmission module 112 for transmitting/receiving data and/or contentto another device, e.g., a personal computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a server residing on the Internet, etc. Optionally, themedia device 100 may include a microphone 114 for acquiring audio fromthe user of the device to input data.

Referring to FIG. 2, various components of the mobile device 100 aredescribed. The mobile device 100 contains a computer processing module120, e.g., a microprocessor. The computer processing module 120 may usecomputer software instructions that have been programmed into the moduleand conventional computer processing power to interact and organize thetraffic flow between the various other modules. It is to be understoodthat the present disclosure may be implemented in various forms ofhardware, software, firmware, special purpose processors, or acombination thereof. A system bus 121 couples the various componentsshown in FIG. 2 and may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The mobile device100 also includes an operating system and micro instruction codepreferably residing in read only memory (ROM) (not shown). The variousprocesses and functions described herein may either be part of the microinstruction code or part of an application program (or a combinationthereof) which is executed via the operating system. Exemplary operatingsystems include but are not limited to Apple iOS, SymbianOS, WindowsMobile/Windows CE, Palm OS, Linux, Blackberry OS, BREW, etc., which havebeen developed for mobile computing applications and can handle bothdata computing and communication applications, e.g., voicecommunications.

It is to be further understood that because some of the constituentdevice components and method steps depicted in the accompanying figuresmay be implemented in software, the actual connections between thedevice components (or the process steps) may differ depending upon themanner in which the present disclosure is programmed. Given theteachings of the present disclosure provided herein, one of ordinaryskill in the related art will be able to contemplate these and similarimplementations or configurations of the present disclosure.

The computer processing module 120 may further include, in addition to amicroprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP) for decoding storedaudio, video and photo files to be played on the mobile device 100. Asis known in the art, the DSP may include several known decompressionalgorithms for decompressing stored media content, e.g., a MP3 file. Thedevice 100 of the present disclosure may support any of various filetypes including but not limited to Microsoft Windows Media Video files(.wmv), Microsoft Photo Story files (.asf), Microsoft Windows MediaAudio files (.wma), MP3 audio files (.mp3), JPEG image files (.jpg,.jpeg, .jpe, jfif), MPEG movie files (.mpeg, .mpg, .mpe, .m1v, .mp2v.mpeg2), Microsoft Recorded TV Show files (.dvr-ms), Microsoft WindowsVideo files (.avi) and Microsoft Windows Audio files (.wav).

The device 100 also contains a display module 104 for displaying digitalinformation such as video files, image files, text files, etc. Thisdisplay may be in any current form in the art, including Liquid CrystalDisplays (LCD), Light emitting diode displays (LED), Cathode Ray TubeDisplays (CRT) or any other type of display currently existing orexisting in the future. The display module 104 may also include an audiooutput device, e.g., a speaker 116, audio port 118, etc., allowing theuser to also hear audio output from the device 100, e.g., audioassociated with a video, a MP3 file, etc.

The device 100 of the present disclosure may contain a user input module106 to either receive user instructions via text input by the way ofbuttons 108, a standard keyboard interface coupled to the device, or acharacter recognition capture device which translates user text inputinto alphanumeric characters. In some embodiments, the characterrecognition device may include a touch screen which overlays the displaymodule 104 such that text may be entered via a pen-like stylus or otherinstrument. Such input devices are standard and currently available onmany electronic devices including portable digital assistants (PDAs) andcellular telephones.

Optionally, microphone 114 may be further coupled to the input module106 for capturing any audio information spoken by the user and the inputmodule will further include an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter forconverting the spoken audio information into a digital format.Furthermore, the input module may include a voice recognition processorthat translates the digital human voice into alpha numeric charactersfor user input. The user may utilize the user input module 106 to entervarious data, e.g., to initiate communication with a remote server, torequest information from the server, etc.

The storage module 110 includes internal storage memory, e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM), or removable memory such as magnetic storagememory; optical storage memory, e.g., the various known types of CD andDVD media; solid-state storage memory, e.g., a CompactFlash card, aMemory Stick, SmartMedia card, MultiMediaCard (MMC), SD (Secure Digital)memory; or any other memory storage that exists currently or will existin the future.

The transmission module 112 will enable the device 100 to transmit ortransfer information to other computing devices and to receiveinformation from other computing devices, e.g., digital media files,codes to unlock downloaded media, encryption/decryption keys, etc. Thetransmission module 112 will perform its functionality by hardwiredand/or wireless connectivity. The hardwire connection may include but isnot limited to hard wire cabling, e.g., parallel or serial cables, USBcable, Firewire (1394 connectivity) cables, and the appropriate port.The wireless connection may operate under any of the various knownwireless protocols including but not limited to Bluetooth™interconnectivity, infrared connectivity, radio transmissionconnectivity including computer digital signal broadcasting andreception commonly referred to as Wi-Fi or 802.11.X (where x denotes thetype of transmission), satellite transmission or any other type ofcommunication protocols or systems currently existing or to be developedfor wirelessly transmitting data. The transmission module 112 maycompress and encode the encrypted information for transmission using anyknown wireless communication technology. In one embodiment, antenna ANTis coupled to the transmission module 112 for extending the wirelesstransmission range of the device 100.

A capture module 122 is provided to capture an image desired by the userin digital form, e.g., an image of an article of commerce, a barcode,etc. The capture module 122 may include an image sensor, ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter and a digital signal processor (DSP).Referring to FIG. 1B when a user desires to capture an image, a lens 137disposed on a rear side of the mobile device 100 is aimed at a subjectof the image and is used in conjunction with display module 104 forpositioning a subject of the image in lieu of a viewfinder. Light isallowed to enter through the lens 137 and shine on the image sensor,e.g., a charge-coupled device (CCD) or complimentary metal-oxidesemiconductor (CMOS). The image sensor may include millions ofphotosensors, e.g., pixels, wherein each pixel absorbs the light andtransforms the light into an electric charge proportional to theintensity of light. Each charge can be transmitted to an A/D converterwhere the charge is converted into a digital value representing thecolor the pixel will be, e.g., representing different intensities ofred, green and blue. The digital values are then passed to the digitalsignal processor which may enhance the image, compress it, and thenstores it in a digital file format in the storage module 110.

In other embodiments, the mobile device 100 further includes anintegrated scanning module 124 for scanning a barcode or other symbologyon an article of commerce. The scanning module 124 may contain a lightsource, e.g., LED, and photocell coupled to the computer processingmodule 120, or alternatively, may include a separate decoder engine thatwill decode the data received by the photocell before sending it to thecomputer processing module 120. Knowledge of the art reveals that manydifferent types of scanners currently exist and the inventor realizesthat the type of scanner would depend upon the type symbology that isutilized in the printed images. The symbology may be in any formcurrently practiced in the art, including barcodes (e.g., UPC, EAN,PDF417, etc.), photosymbols, standard or specialized text, etc., or anyfuture type of symbology.

It is to be appreciated that the capture module 122 may also be used inconjunction with the scanning module 124 to read symbology associatedwith an article of commerce. Here, the capture module 122 may acquire animage of the symbology and the scanning module 124 may further include adigital signal processor executing an algorithm for deciphering ordecoding the symbology from the captured image. The use of an imagesensor to read symbology, e.g., a barcode, is known in the art andsystems employing such technology, for example, are commerciallyavailable from Symbol Technologies of New York.

The mobile device 100 may also include an encryption module 126. Theencryption module 126 may use conventional code encryption algorithmscurrently in use or that may be uses in the future such as symmetric-keyalgorithms, e.g., DES, Triple-DES, Blowfish, RC2, RC4, RCS, etc., andasymmetric-key algorithms, e.g., Diffie-Hellman, RSA, ElGamal, etc. todecrypt locked digital media content files that are stored in thestorage module 110. The encryption module 126 may also encrypt paymentinformation of a user before the payment information is transmitted toanother device or server.

Furthermore, the mobile device 100 may also include a date and timemodule 128. The date and time module 128 uses standard computer chipprocessing technology widely in use, e.g., a crystal, or alternatively,input from a GPS receiver to supply the date and time.

In one embodiment, the device 100 according to the principles of thepresent disclosure is embodied as a mobile phone including the modulesand architecture illustrated in FIG. 2. In this embodiment, microphone106 is further coupled to a communication module 130 for encoding auser's speech to be transmitted via antenna ANT using CDMA, PCS, GSM orany other known wireless communication technology. The user will enterphone numbers to be dialed via the touch screen, or alternatively, as isknown in the mobile phone art, the device 100 may include a full QWERTYkeyboard as an input module to enter text information. In addition toproducing audio from audio or multimedia content, speaker 116 will becoupled to the antenna ANT and a decoder for receiving and decodingvoice communication from another mobile phone.

It is to be appreciated that the communication module 130 may include asingle integrated circuit chip to perform data transfer and voicecommunications or a single module including a separate data transferchip, e.g., a WiFi transceiver, and a separate voice communication chip,e.g., a CDMA chip. In one embodiment, the communication module willoperate on the wireless GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) dataprotocol or a 3G or 4G protocol such as W-CDMA, CDMA2000 and TD-SCDMA.The GPRS, 3G, and 4G protocols have the ability to carry both voice anddata over the same service.

It is to be appreciated that the device 100 described above is anexemplary device and may include all or a portion of the modulesdescribed above. Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that existingmobile devices, e.g., mobile phones, digital media playback device, maybe used in accordance with the principles of the system and method ofthe present disclosure described below.

Systems and methods are provided herein for identifying an article ofcommerce and providing an indication as to whether or not a link toinformation pertaining to the article exists, which is described belowin relation to FIGS. 3 and 4. Referring to FIG. 3, a system inaccordance with the present disclosure is illustrated. The systemincludes a mobile device 100 as described above. Associated with themobile device 100 is a database 110, which may be stored within one ormore memory devices. The memory devices may include memory that isinternal to the mobile device 100 (e.g., storage module 110) and/ormemory that is connected to the mobile device 100 in an externalarrangement, such as being removably connected to the device 100 or incommunication via a wired connection.

The mobile device 100 communicates to a server 304 via a communicationnetwork 302. The device 100 and server 304 may be connected to thecommunications network 302, e.g., the Internet, by any known means, forexample, a hardwired or wireless connection 308, such as dial-up,hardwired, cable, DSL, satellite, cellular, PCS, wireless transmission(e.g., 802.11a/b/g), etc. It is to be appreciated that the network 302may be a local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internetor any known network that couples a plurality of computers to enablevarious modes of communication via network messages. Furthermore, theserver 304 may communicate using the various known protocols such asTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), File TransferProtocol (FTP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc., and secureprotocols such as Internet Protocol Security Protocol (IPSec),Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)Protocol, etc. The server 304 further includes a storage medium 306 forstoring a database, which includes, among other things, one or morelook-up tables that provide links between articles of commerce and theircorresponding UPC number and that also provide links between the UPCnumber and information link indicators, where each information linkindicator is intended to indicate whether or not information pertainingto the respective article of commerce is accessible over thecommunications network 302. In some embodiments, the look-up table(s)may further include hyperlinks including address information forenabling a browser to contact one or more web pages that provide theinformation pertaining to the article. According to otherimplementations, the look-up table(s) may further contain the actualinformation pertaining to the article or at least a portion of theinformation or a summary of the information. For example, the look-uptable may include a description of the article and/or advertisingcontent relating to the particular article.

FIG. 4A is a block diagram illustrating a method for downloading alook-up table that may be used to indicate the existence of links toinformation about an article of commerce. In this embodiment, the methodincludes, at shown in block 402, the step of creating a look-up table tolink UPC symbols with articles of commerce. The look-up table isconfigured to store a plurality of UPCs associated with a plurality ofarticles of commerce and further configured to store a plurality ofinformation link indicators, each information link indicator associatedwith a respective UPC and article of commerce. Each information linkindicator indicates the existence of a link to information pertaining tothe respective article of commerce, the link being made to theinformation via the communication network.

Block 404 indicates that the look-up table is stored in a database of aserver that is accessible over the communication network. As indicatedin block 406, the look-up table is downloaded from the server to an enduser device. The table may be downloaded to any number of remote userdevices, such as the mobile device 100 described above. Once downloaded,the look-up table is stored in local memory (step 408), such as on astorage device on a mobile device. In some embodiments, the look-uptable may be less than about 10 Gbytes, allowing the mobile device orother devices that download the table to easily handle the storagecapacity.

The method of FIG. 4A may further include the step of automaticallydownloading periodic updates of the look-up table from the serverdatabase to the local database. This process of periodically downloadingupdates allows any modification in the data in the table to bedistributed to the mobile devices that have initially downloaded thelook-up table.

FIG. 4B illustrates a method, which, according to some embodiments, isperformed after the downloading steps of FIG. 4A. The method describessteps that enable a user device, such as a mobile device, havingdownloaded the look-up table, to indicate an existence of a link toinformation about an article of commerce. According to block 412, themethod includes scanning and decoding a UPC symbol from an article ofcommerce. Block 414 comprises retrieving an indicator from the look-uptable, which essentially involves looking up the UPC in the look-uptable stored in the local database to determine from the respectiveinformation link indicator whether or not a link to informationpertaining to the article of commerce associated with the scanned UPCsymbol is accessible via the communication network.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise the step ofdisplaying the indicator to the user, as indicated in block 416, whichessentially involves producing visual signals to indicate to a user ofthe mobile device whether or not the scanned UPC symbol is associatedwith an article of commerce for which information regarding the articleof commerce is accessible via the communication network. Instead of orin addition to the visual signal, audio signals may also be produced,for example, producing a beep or tone after scanning to indicate a linkis available. It should be noted that the step of automaticallydownloading the periodic updates, as mentioned above, would normallyprecede the steps of looking up the UPC and related information in thelook-up table.

Referring back to FIG. 3, the mobile device 100 uses communicationprotocols including but not limited to Wi-Fi (a, b, c d, n, x), mobilephone communications such as GSM, CDMA, FOMA, etc, infraredcommunications, cabled communications, Bluetooth communications,satellite communications, to request to download a look-up table fromthe server 304. It is to be appreciated the device 100 may use any oneor a combination of protocols to transmit the request to the server 304.For example, the device 100 may employ a telecommunication protocol totransmit the request via the communication module 140.

Upon receipt of a request from an end user, the server 304 retrieves thelook-up table from its database 306. According to variousimplementations, the server 304 may store a single look-up tableincluding every known UPC-related article of commerce, or may storemultiple look-up tables in which each table represents a specificcategory of articles of commerce. For example, one user may haveinterests in musical instruments and cooking items, but no particularinterests in automobiles and power tools. In this respect, a group oflook-up tables that represent a user's interests may be retrieved orjust a portion of a single catch-all look-up table may be retrieved.

When the server 304 retrieves the single look-up table, or, inalternative embodiments, one or more look-up tables that are dividedinto categories or that represent a portion of a larger table, thelook-up table(s) are downloaded to the end user device, e.g., the mobiledevice 100. The mobile device 100 then stores the look-up table(s) inmemory (e.g., database 110) for later use. In some implementations, theserver 304 and mobile device 100 may institute an automatic downloadarrangement where updates to the look-up table are automaticallydownloaded to the mobile device 100. Automatic downloads may occur on aperiodic basis and/or when the data in the look-up table has beenchanged by a certain amount.

Once the mobile device 100 stores the look-up table locally, the mobiledevice 100 may be used to indicate if information is available forvarious articles of commerce. Also, these actions of accessing the datain the look-up table may be done without the involvement of furthercommunications with the server 304. In this way, the user may be able toquickly find out whether information is accessible for any number ofproducts. As shown in FIG. 3, an example of an article of commerce 310includes a barcode 312. The device 100 is capable of scanning thebarcode 312 with the scanning module 124 and decoding the barcode toacquire an identification code of the article. Alternatively, the device100 will capture an image of the barcode 312 using the capture module122 and decode the barcode 312 to acquire an identification code of thearticle. Furthermore, the user can also take a picture of the article ofcommerce via the capture module 122. Then using standard and existingcomputer processing power and software solutions such as Attrasoft Imagerecognition software, or optical character recognition software (OCRsoftware such as OmniPage or ReadIris) the image or name of the articleof commerce is decoded and the identity of the article of commerce isresolved. The processing module 120 then uses the decoded identity todetermine from the look-up table if information is available for thearticle. If information is available, the mobile device 100 will providea visual or audible indication to the user. Alternatively, if noinformation is available, the mobile device 100 will provide a differentvisual or audible indication. By employing the techniques of the presentdisclosure, a consumer or user can quickly determine the status of anarticle of commerce, i.e., whether further information is available ornot, without communication capabilities, e.g., not being connected tothe Internet.

While the disclosure has been shown and described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for indicating an existence of a link toinformation pertaining to an article of commerce, the system comprising:a mobile device comprising a portable handheld housing and acommunication interface configured to enable the mobile device tocommunicate with a communication network, the mobile device furthercomprising a signal processing device and a visual input device, thevisual input device affixed within the portable handheld housing;digital files associated with the mobile device, a server incommunication with the communication network, the server comprising aserver database configured to store a look-up table that includes atleast a plurality of bar codes associated with a plurality of articlesof commerce, the look-up table also storing a plurality of informationlink indicators, each information link indicator associated with arespective bar code and article of commerce, and each information linkindicator being configured as a status signal indicating the existenceor absence of a link to information pertaining to a respective articleof commerce, the link being made to the information via thecommunication network; wherein the visual input device is configured toscan an image of an article of commerce, decode the image to obtain abar code and forward data from the scanned image to the signalprocessing device; wherein, in response to receiving the bar code, thesignal processing device is configured to look up the bar code in thelook-up table to determine from a respective information link indicatorwhether or not a link exists for accessing information pertaining to anarticle of commerce associated with the bar code via the communicationnetwork.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device furthercomprises a visual output device for producing visual signals toindicate to a user of the mobile device whether or not the image isassociated with an article of commerce for which information pertainingto the article of commerce is accessible via the communication network.3. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile device further comprises anaudio output device for producing audio signals to indicate to a user ofthe mobile device whether or not the image is associated with an articleof commerce for which information pertaining to the article of commerceis accessible via the communication network.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the look-up table further comprises hyperlinks enabling thecommunication interface to access information about the respectivearticle of commerce from at least one web page via the communicationnetwork.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication interfaceis configured to automatically receive periodic updates from the serverfor updating the look-up table.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein thelook-up table is further configured to store at least one ofdescriptions of the plurality of articles of commerce and advertisementcontent regarding the plurality of articles of commerce.
 7. A method forindicating an existence of a link to information pertaining to anarticle of commerce, the method comprising: downloading a look-up tablefrom a server database via a communication network, wherein the look-uptable is configured to store a plurality of bar codes associated with aplurality of articles of commerce, the look-up table also storing aplurality of information link indicators, each information linkindicator associated with a respective bar code and article of commerce,and each information link indicator being configured as a status signalindicating the existence or absence of a link to information pertainingto a respective article of commerce, the link being made to theinformation via the communication network wherein downloading andstoring the look-up table is performed when the mobile device is notbeing used for voice communication; scanning an image associated with anarticle of commerce using a visual input device of the mobile device;decoding the image to obtain a bar code; forwarding data from thescanned image to the signal processing device; and looking up the barcode in the look-up table to determine from a respective informationlink indicator whether or not information pertaining to the article ofcommerce associated with the bar code is accessible via thecommunication network.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising thestep of producing visual signals to indicate to a user of the mobiledevice whether or not the image is associated with an article ofcommerce for which information pertaining to the article of commerce isaccessible via the communication network.
 9. The method of claim 7,further comprising the step of producing audio signals to indicate to auser of the mobile device whether or not the image is associated with anarticle of commerce for which information pertaining to the article ofcommerce is accessible via the communication network.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising the step of automatically downloadingperiodic updates of the look-up table from the server database.
 11. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the look-up table further compriseshyperlinks enabling access to information about the respective articleof commerce from at least one web page via the communication network.12. A mobile device for indicating an existence of a link to informationpertaining to an article of commerce, the mobile device comprising: aportable handheld housing; a communication interface configured tocommunicate with a communication network; an input device configured toreceive identifying information pertaining to an article of commerce; aprocessing device configured to determine the article of commerce basedon the identifying information; and wherein the communication interfaceis configured to download a look-up table from a server database andstore the look-up table when the mobile device is not being used forvoice communication, the look-up table includes at least a plurality ofbar codes associated with a plurality of articles of commerce, thelook-up table also stores a plurality of information link indicators,each information link indicator associated with a respective bar codeand article of commerce, and each information link indicator beingconfigured as a status signal indicating the existence or absence of alink to information pertaining to a respective article of commerce, thelink being made to the information via the communication network;wherein the input device is configured to scan an image of an article ofcommerce, decode the image to obtain a bar code and forward data fromthe scanned image to the signal processing device; wherein, in responseto receiving the bar code, the processing device is configured to lookup the bar code in the look-up table stored in the local database todetermine from a respective information link indicator whether or not alink exists for accessing information pertaining to an article ofcommerce associated with the bar code via the communication network. 13.The mobile device of claim 12, further comprising a visual output devicefor producing visual signals to indicate to a user of the mobile devicewhether or not the image is associated with an article of commerce forwhich information pertaining to the article of commerce is accessiblevia the communication network.
 14. The mobile device of claim 12,further comprising an audio output device for producing audio signals toindicate to a user of the mobile device whether or not the image isassociated with an article of commerce for which information pertainingto the article of commerce is accessible via the communication network.15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the look-up table furthercomprises hyperlinks enabling the communication interface to accessinformation about the respective article of commerce from at least oneweb page via the communication network.
 16. The mobile device of claim12, wherein the look-up table is further configured to store at leastone of descriptions of the plurality of articles of commerce and storeadvertisement content regarding the plurality of articles of commerce.17. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructionsthat, when executed by a processor, perform the steps of: downloading alook-up table from a server database via a communication network,wherein the look-up table is configured to store a plurality of barcodes associated with a plurality of articles of commerce, the look-uptable also storing a plurality of information link indicators, eachinformation link indicator associated with a respective bar code andarticle of commerce, and each information link indicator beingconfigured as a status signal indicating the existence or absence of alink to information pertaining to a respective article of commerce, thelink being made to the information via the communication network whereindownloading and storing the look-up table is performed when the mobiledevice is not being used for voice communication; scanning an imageassociated with an article of commerce using a visual input device ofthe mobile device; decoding the image to obtain a bar code; forwardingdata from the scanned image to the signal processing device; and lookingup the bar code in the look-up table to determine from a respectiveinformation link indicator whether or not information pertaining to thearticle of commerce associated with the bar code is accessible via thecommunication network, wherein looking up the bar code to determinewhether or not the information is accessible is performed withoutaccessing the communication network.
 18. The non-transitory computerreadable medium according to claim 17, further comprising the step ofproducing visual signals to indicate to a user of the mobile devicewhether or not the image is associated with an article of commerce forwhich information pertaining to the article of commerce is accessiblevia the communication network.
 19. The non-transitory computer readablemedium according to claim 17, further comprising the step of producingaudio signals to indicate to a user of the mobile device whether or notthe image is associated with an article of commerce for whichinformation pertaining to the article of commerce is accessible via thecommunication network.
 20. The non-transitory computer readable mediumaccording to claim 17, further comprising the step of automaticallydownloading periodic updates of the look-up table from the serverdatabase.
 21. The non-transitory computer readable medium according toclaim 17, wherein the look-up table further comprises hyperlinksenabling access to information about the respective article of commercefrom at least one web page via the communication network.